President of Harvard, at odds with some faculty, to step down

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Lawrence H. Summers, the president of Harvard University, said Tuesday that he would step down at the end of the academic year.

Summers will likely take a yearlong sabbatical and then return to Harvard as a distinguished professor of economics and public policy, the university said in a statement.

Derek Bok, who served as president of Harvard from 1971 to 1991, will serve as interim president, beginning in July and until a search for a new president is completed.

The president's decision came after several weeks of agitation by many members of the faculty of Harvard's largest school, who were upset over the resignation of their dean, William C. Kirby, late last month.

Many of the professors, who are part of Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, accused Summers of having forced out Kirby. They scheduled a vote of no confidence in Summers for their next meeting, Feb. 28.

The decision to step down came from Summers, after he decided that his situation had become untenable, a university official said.

After some members of the university's governing board talked in private with professors and administrators, trying to gauge the depth of the faculty's anger, the board also came to the conclusion that the relationship between the president and the faculty could not be repaired. Many of the professors who spoke with board members urged them to end the conflict by asking Summers to step down, said a professor who had talked with a board member.

Last March, the arts and sciences faculty approved a no-confidence measure after Summers said at an academic conference that women's "intrinsic aptitude" might contribute to their low numbers in science and engineering.